Feeding show pigs isn't quite like feeding other showstock.

A pig can change tremendously with an observant eye and a feed bucket.

That's what makes them so much fun to feed—and occasionally so frustrating.

Pigs can respond noticeably to changes in nutrition, condition, exercise, environment, and maturity. Leave one going in the wrong direction for too long and you can find yourself trying to undo something you could have prevented earlier.

That's why I don't think the first question should be:

“What should I feed my show pig?”

The first question should be:

“What kind of pig am I feeding?”

Assuming you've done your due diligence and selected the soundest, best-bred animal your budget allows, it's time to look at the body type you brought home.

And for beginners, I like to divide baby pigs into three very unofficial categories:

The Beast.

The Intermediary.

The Green Bean.

I've seen successful show pigs start in every one of these categories.

The problem comes when we try to feed all three the same way.

First: Learn to Read the Pig:

Before we get into the three types, there's something important to understand.

The pig gets a vote.

You can have the fanciest feed program in the barn, but if the animal standing in front of you isn't responding the way you expected, the program needs to change.

A good-quality, properly formulated show feed should provide the nutritional foundation. From there, we're looking at things like protein and amino-acid supply, energy, fat, fiber, total intake, rate of gain, exercise, and time.

For the purposes of this article, we're going to talk quite a bit about protein and fat because those are two of the major things beginning feeders will see change between feeds and feeding programs.

I'm intentionally not giving you one magic protein or fat percentage.

A number on a feed tag doesn't tell the entire nutritional story. Age, weight, genetics, total intake, amino-acid balance, energy density, rate of gain, and the rest of the ration all matter.

What I want you to learn first is which direction you need to move the dial—and why.

Then watch the pig.

Is it getting harder or softer?

Is muscle expression increasing?

Is it getting too tight in its movement?

Is it gaining too quickly?

Is it staying too green and immature?

Is it maintaining enough body and cover?

Most importantly:

Is the pig moving closer to the picture you're trying to create—or farther away from it?

That's the question that matters.

Type #1: The Beast:

You know this pig.

He's the baby everybody wants because he already looks halfway ready for the backdrop.

Big hip. Big top. Plenty of shape. Stout everywhere.

He's been making excellent use of the creep feeder and apparently has no intention of apologizing for it.

These pigs are exciting.

They're also the ones I think beginners need to approach with the most restraint.

The temptation is to look at all that muscle and think:

More.

More protein.

More muscle.

More shape.

More everything.

But the pig may not need more.

A heavily muscled young pig still has a skeleton that needs time to mature. If the pig becomes excessively hard, tight-bodied, or uncomfortable in its movement, continually trying to increase muscle expression isn't necessarily helping you.

Watch him from the side and from above.

Does he move freely for his age and frame?

Does his body have some softness and dimension?

Are the transitions behind the shoulder and ahead of the hip becoming extremely sharp?

Does he look athletic—or does he look like somebody stuffed ten pounds of muscle into a five-pound bag?

That last one is your clue.

With this type of pig, I'm generally looking to lower the emphasis on protein and lean-muscle development and increase the emphasis on energy and body condition.

In simple feed-room terms:

Less protein pressure. More focus on fat and cover.

You're not trying to strip the muscle off the pig. You already paid for that muscle.

You're trying to stop asking for more of it while giving the rest of the animal time to mature around what it already has.

That's why I like to go low and slow with these pigs.

Keep them eating.

Keep them growing appropriately.

Add some softness and cover.

Keep them comfortable and athletic.

Let the skeleton and maturity curve catch up with the muscle expression.

This is also a pig that may never need the higher-protein approach another pig requires. If he's naturally stout and continues developing enough muscle on a more moderate program, don't increase protein simply because somebody told you that's what show pigs are supposed to eat.

Read the pig.

You already bought the muscle. Don't spend the rest of the project trying to buy it again.

Type #2: The Intermediary:

These are usually the easiest pigs to start with.

They're moderate.

They're not overwhelmingly muscular.

They're not desperately green.

They're not excessively fat.

Everything is more or less where you'd expect it to be for their age and maturity.

From above, you may see some definition behind the shoulder and around the hip, but nothing extreme.

From the side, their body, skeleton, and muscle expression generally look proportional.

And when they move, everything fits.

Congratulations.

Now your job is not to crash it.

Most moderate pigs can stay near the middle of the road until they give you a reason to move.

That's what makes them easy—and why they can require a surprisingly observant feeder.

As they mature, they may begin telling you they need something different.

If muscle expression starts getting too aggressive and the pig begins looking harder or tighter, ease off the protein emphasis and put more focus on maintaining body and condition.

If the pig starts getting greener, flatter, or legitimately behind in muscle development, you may need to increase the nutritional support for lean growth.

If body condition begins disappearing, look at energy intake.

If the pig starts getting too soft, ask whether you're supplying more energy than the animal currently needs.

Don't make changes just because you've reached a certain week in the feeding program.

Make them because the pig gave you a reason.

These pigs may have you moving between different feeds or adjusting the ration throughout the project, but that's okay.

You aren't necessarily correcting a problem.

You're trying to keep one from developing.

The trick with this pig isn't knowing one perfect ration.

It's knowing when to move the dial.

Type #3: The Green Bean:

These are my favorites.

These are the pigs sitting in the: “Why the heck would I put THAT thing on feed?” pen.

And there are few things more satisfying than taking one home and eventually having the same people who walked past it wondering where that pig came from.

But there's a catch.

Green and bad are not the same thing.

You cannot feed structural correctness into a pig.

You cannot feed a better skeleton into one.

And you cannot assume every light-muscled, immature pig is secretly a champion waiting for enough groceries.

The pieces still have to be there.

That's where your evaluation skills matter.

Is the pig simply immature and behind in development?

Or is it genuinely narrow?

Is it flat through its muscle because it hasn't matured yet?

Or does it lack the skeletal design and shape necessary to develop the way you need?

Look at the hip.

Look at the skeleton.

Look at the width.

Look at the feet and legs.

Look at how everything connects.

If you're looking at one from behind and it lacks shape through its hip while the hooks and pins appear to fall away sharply, take another look.

If it's flat over the top, ask yourself why it's flat.

Is it green?

Or is it narrow?

Those aren't the same problem, and a feed bucket isn't going to fix both of them.

Always look twice at this group because they can be deceiving.

But if the underlying animal is there and the maturity isn't yet?

Now we've got something fun to feed.

Nutritionally, these pigs generally need the opposite approach from the Beast.

If they're truly behind in muscle development—not simply narrow or poorly designed—you may need to increase the emphasis on protein and amino-acid supply to support lean growth while still providing enough dietary energy to keep the pig growing and developing body.

In simple terms, this is the pig where we're more willing to turn the protein dial up.

But don't forget about fat and energy.

A green pig that also needs body and cover can't build the picture you want if you're only thinking about muscle.

If the pig is lacking both muscle and cover, decide which problem is most urgent rather than throwing everything at it at once.

Sometimes getting the pig eating, growing, and carrying enough condition needs to come first.

Then you can fine-tune the muscle.

And give these pigs time.

Depending on how far behind one is, you may push muscle development more aggressively for a period and then back down as the pig begins catching up.

That's the important part.

Push with a purpose. Then back off when the pig tells you it's caught up.

Don't keep feeding yesterday's problem after you've already fixed it.

Protein and Fat Are Dials, Not Switches:

This is where I think beginning feeders sometimes get into trouble.

We talk about “high protein” pigs and “high fat” pigs as if you flip a switch and suddenly you're feeding one or the other.

That's not how I want you to think about it.

Think of them as dials.

You're looking at the pig and asking which direction each dial needs to move.

The Beast already has plenty of muscle expression?

Maybe the protein dial doesn't need to keep climbing. Shift your attention toward body, condition, and keeping the pig comfortable and athletic.

The Intermediary looks exactly where it should?

Leave the dials alone.

The Green Bean has the skeleton and design but legitimately needs more muscle development?

Now you have a reason to increase nutritional support for lean growth.

Sometimes you'll have to turn both dials a little bit to keep the whole pig developing in a harmonious direction. That's why it's so important to evaluate them regularly and not get so set in your ways that you can't adjust your program to suit the pig in front of you.

And as soon as that pig changes, reevaluate.

The feeding program that was perfect four weeks ago may not be the feeding program the pig needs today.

That's why feeding pigs is so much fun.

The target moves.

Feed the Pig, Not the Feed Bag:

This may be the most important lesson in the entire article.

A feed tag can tell you what's in the bag.

It cannot tell you what the pig standing in front of you needs today.

That's your job.

And don't become so loyal to a particular product that you ignore the animal.

If the pig won't eat it, it isn't doing you much good.

Some pigs prefer meal.

Some prefer pellets.

Some eat better wet.

Some eat better dry.

I've successfully used both meal and pellets, and I personally don't think the physical form matters nearly as much as finding a complete feeding program that the pig consistently consumes and responds well to.

If you wet-feed, be consistent about it and keep feeders and pans clean.

Adding water may improve palatability and intake for some pigs, and maintaining hydration is obviously important, but water itself isn't a shortcut for creating muscle. Pay attention to how wet feeding affects the individual pig's intake and the overall feeding program rather than assuming more water automatically creates more muscle.

And whatever you change, give yourself a reason for changing it.

Don't add something because somebody at the show barn told you to.

Don't change feeds because the bag has a prettier pig on it.

And don't panic because your pig looked different this morning.

Know what problem you're trying to solve.

Then change one thing with a purpose, give the animal enough time to respond, and watch.

The Takeaway:

Pigs are some of the most rewarding livestock in the world to feed because they're so responsive.

You can watch them develop.

You can make adjustments.

You can see the picture change.

But that responsiveness cuts both ways.

The feed bucket is a powerful tool only when the person holding it knows what they're looking at.

Learn what your pig looked like yesterday.

Learn what it looks like today.

And learn where you want it to be tomorrow.

Don't feed the program because it's the program.

Don't feed the bag because it's the bag.

Feed the pig standing in front of you.

Because when it comes to feeding show pigs, the most important piece of equipment in the feed room isn't the scoop, the scale, or the bag.

It's your eye.

Luck favors the prepared.

And a sharp, observant eye will beat a blindly complicated feeding program every time.

What kind of pig do you like to feed and why? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.